Netscape Pioneer Forms Venture Cap Fund

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2009 11:14 AM CDT
Netscape Pioneer Forms Venture Cap Fund
Web browser pioneer Marc Andreessen smiles in a server room used for Quality Assurance testing and integration lab used for testing code at Opsware headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., Feb. 7, 2003.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)

Marc Andreessen, the tech pioneer who co-founded Netscape, launched a boutique venture capital firm today, intent on investing in “anything that involves chips and computers.” Though Andreessen and business partner Ben Horowitz have been dropping angel investments around Silicon Valley for years, they’ll now have much more capital at their disposal, to the tune of an initial capitalization of $300 million, Wired reports.

So will Andreessen invest in your digital dream? Probably not. The pair is sticking to their rule that they won’t invest in anything they don’t understand (which includes a lot of "cool stuff"), and they’ll only talk to people referred by mutual friends and respected acquaintances. It’ll be “almost a throwback” to the small, focused firms of yore. But if you decide to try your luck with a cold-email, "we’ll probably” read it, says Andreessen, shooting Horowitz a boyish grin. (More Marc Andreessen stories.)

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